HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE II

This course is part of the Bachelor Degree in Humanities (Lettere), curriculum of Antiquity and curriculum of Science of the literary text and communication.
It aims to provide students with a basic knowledge of the external linguistic history of Italian, from the Origins (transition from Latin to Romance, earliest written records in Italian vernaculars) to the Contemporary Era, with special regard to the most relevant periods of the linguistic codification (the Trecento, the "questione della lingua" in the 16th century, the 19th century, the national diffusion of written and oral Italian after 1861). The achievement of these objectives will enable students to apply autonomously the methods and tools of the history of the Italian language to the historical-linguistic analysis and contextualization of texts written in Italian vernaculars and the Italian language, in any of its varieties, between the Middle Ages and the 20th century.

By the end of the course students are expected to:
- know the basic bibliographical instruments of the discipline;
- be familiar with the most relevant events of the external linguistic history of Italian, from the Origins until the present, with special regard to the Renaissance phase of the ‘Questione della lingua’;
- be able to contextualize linguistically a text in an Italian vernacular and in the Italian language, in any of its varieties;
- be able to evaluate critically the different positions in the century-long debate known as "questione della lingua", by recognizing elements of continuity through time;
- be able to communicate the specific characteristics of the history of the Italian language, by connecting them with the political, social, literary and cultural history of Italy and Europe;
- make use of a convenient scientific terminology by analyzing texts, notably the texts read and commented upon in the classes.

Students are expected to have already attended the course History of the Italian language I.

Centre and peripheries of the linguistic norm

The course is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the main events in the history of the Italian language and pays special attention to the 'Questione della lingua'. The second part will focus on the so called 'italiano dei semicolti', which will be examined in its longue durée.

Claudio Marazzini, Breve storia della questione della lingua, Rome, Carocci.

Raffaella Scarpa, La questione della lingua, Antologia di testi da Dante a oggi, Rome, Carocci (selection).

E. Testa, L'italiano nascosto. Una storia linguistica e culturale, Turin, Einaudi, 2014 (only chapters I and III).

Materials (handouts etc.) provided by the teacher, which will be available via Moodle.

NON-ATTENDINGS STUDENTS will study Marazzini's, Scarpa's and Testa's books entirely.

Students will have to pass an oral exam of 20-30 minutes. During the exam, students should demonstrate their knowledge of the topics discussed in class and illustrated in the reference texts. Students should also be able to analyse a selection of the texts examined in class (at least two).

Frontal teaching. All materials will be available in the e-learning platform moodle.unive.it. Although the course is not conceived as a seminar, feedback from students will be constantly solicited, according to an interactive and dynamic idea of teaching.

Italian

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